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^ITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

BULLETIN No. 864 




Contribution from the Bureau of Markets 
GEORGE LIVINGSTON, Chief 




Washington, D. C. PROFESSIONAL PAPER July 28, 1920 

A PEACH-SIZING MACHINE. 

By Manlky Stockton, Investigator in Marketing, and J. F. Barghausen, Investigator 
in Agricultural Technology. 



The sizing machine described in this bulletin was developed to 
meet a demand from peach growers for a simple and efficient machine 
that would accurately and carefully size and distribute peaches to 
the packing bins. In addition to those features which are always 
highly desirable in sizing machines, such as sufficient capacity for 
economical operation, substantial construction, and freedom from 
delicate adjustments, it was necessary to produce at a reasonable 
cost (the estimated cost of building single machines at the present 
price of materials should not exceed $450), a machine which would 
not injure tender fruit by bruising or roughening the pubescence. 
Several sizers were in use in the northern and southern sections when 
the first experimental machine was built and put in the field, but exist- 
ing types were open to the general objection thlat they were too expen- 
sive for the smaller grower or, if relatively inexpensive, either were 
not accurate enough or handled the fruit too roughly. 

While the sizer described herein (see fig. 1 ) was developed primarily 
to meet the needs pecuhar to the packing of peaches in 6-basket car- 
riers, it may also be used, with a few slight changes in the bin con- 
struction, for jumble packing of bushel baskets. Furthermore, al- 
though the bureau does not officially indorse its use for sizing other 
crops, it is believed that this machine may be adapted to the sizing 
of other fruits, such as pears and apples. Where barrel packs are used 
for apples and no necessity exists for sizing the crop into numerous 
exact size classes, as is the case in box packing, this machine could 
probably be used with as good results as any other machine which sizes 
the fruit by measurement. 

CONSTRUCTION. 

In designing this macliine an effort was made to specify as many 
standard parts as possible in order to facilitate construction. In the 
conveyer section (fig. 2) the wood framework is simply made and 

180761°— 20-BulL 864 



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BULLETIN 864, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



serves as a structure to carry the roller sorting conveyer. The con- 
veyer is made by joining a series of wood rollers to a standard drive 
chain made of alternate D-5 and plain No. 45 links. The roller 
conveyer is carried up an incline of 23°, as illustrated in figure 1. 
This slope may be reduced by lengthening the belt, but the conveyer 
can not bo operated successfully if it is made steeper, as some of the 
larger fruit would be bruised by rolling back. The rollers are 2^ 
inches in diameter and each is reamed out at both ends to receive the 
pins on the D-5 links in the drive chains. The hopper or feed, which is 
heavily padded and sloped slightly to permit the fruit to roll to the 




Fig. 1.— In order to make the maehiue more compact the sortin;,' conveyer is joined to the sizer section 
at right angles. Note the continuous bins and packing bench and also the tracks which carry the ropes. 
The galvanized iron distributers seen at the ends of the ropes are used to divert the fruit to all parts of 
the end bin. 

sorting conveyor, holds from a half })ushcl to a l)u.shol of peaches. 
Some sort of chute should be attached to the sides of this conveyer 
at about halfway up the incline in order to provide a convenient 
means for the disposal of defective fruit by the sorters. 

Figure 3 shows a cross section of the sizing mechanism and l)ins. 
Rope sizers resembling this one in a general way have been in use to a 
limited extent for many years. This machine is an improvement over 
others of the same t^-pe, because the tracks carrying the sizing ropes 
can be adjusted easily and quickly to any desired width while the 
macliine is in operation ])y the device shown in figiu-es 4 and 5 and also 
because the ropes are joined by a coupling which obviates the use of a 

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Aua •••.!> 1920 



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PEACH-SIZING MACHIITE. 



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cumbersome splice. The crop is sized and distributed to packing 

bms havmg adequate space to accommodate ten to fifteen packers 

^^ who normally can pack the fruit fast enough to keep up ;vith the work 



>J when the machine is running at full capacity 




Fio. 2.— Side view of conveyer. 

The tracks are supported by overhead iron ])races attached to tUe 
central structure of the sizing section in such a way that the peaches 
have an unobstructed path in dropping through to the packing ],ins. 
The tracks m which the ropes travel are made of straight-grained white 
pme and are grooved out, as illustrated, to carry the ropes and to 




Fig. 3.— Tross-section \-ie\v 



keep them accurately lined and exactly spaced throughout their 
length. The ropes are f-inch 3-strand cotton rope and are very 
flexible. This flexibility makes it easier to keep the rope in the 
grooves. The ropes are also held in the grooved tracks })y the tension 
produced by weight idlers under the machme. A piece^f stretched 



4 BULLETIN 864, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

canvas extends the length of the machine immediately under the 
opening between the tracks, to receive the fruit from the ropes and 
break the fall into the sloping bins. This strip is fastened to a ratchet 
drum at one end by which it may be tightened. The bins (see fig. 1 ), 
which slope about 20°, are in two parts; the sloping floor is heavily 
padded and the bin pockets are formed by the loose canvas at the 
bottom, from which the fruit is taken by the packers. 

OPERATION. 

The peaches from the field are placed in the feeding hopper and 
fed in regular amounts into the spaces between the rollers as they are 




Fig. 4.— Detail of screw-controlled track adjuster. 

presented. The rollers revolve as they travel up the incline, thus 
revolving the peaches which rest on them as they pass before the 
sorters. This is a great aid to sorting, for it makes imnecessary the 
turning of the fruit by hand in order to see the entire surface and there- 
fore makes it possible for more efficient work to be done by fewer 
people than is the case where an endless canvas belt or an inclined 
chute is used for this purpose. 

The sorters remove the defective specimens not intended for pack- 
ing and place them in baskets or chutes attached to the sides of the 
conveyer frame. When the peaches reach the upper end of the con- 
veyer they are delivered to a divided galvanized-iron chute that 
directs haK of the fruit to one set of sizing ropes and half to the other. 



PEACH-SIZING MACHINE. 5 

The ropes at this end of the machine are parallel and remain so for 
the first 3 feet. They are spaced to permit all fruit too small for pack- 
ing to drop through into a canvas chute which delivers it into a basket 
or bin. After the first 3 feet the ropes begui to diverge and continue 
to do so till they reach the far end of the machme. The amount of 
divergence of the ropes is governed by the sizes desired in the bins. 
When the sizes are uniform and an equal distribution is deshed to all 
bms the divergence will be less per foot than if there were a wide 
variation in the sizes of the fruit passing over the jopes. One of each 
pair of ropes travels sUghtly faster than the other, which tends to 




Fig. 5.— View showing the driving pulleys, the track-adjusting wheel, and the galvanized iron chute used 
to distribute the fruit from the roller-sorting conveyer to the sizing unit. 

cause the peaches to straighten out lengthwise on the ropes, so that 
the transverse diameter is subjected to measurement. Very few 
peaches ever get on the ropes crosswise, as the V-shaped trough 
which extends for the first 3 feet serves to straighten them out. Thus 
the peaches are sized on the basis of their minimum transverse 
diameter. 

The largest peaches go over the end of the ropes and pass over 
galvanized-iron adjustable chutes (see fig. 1), which facilitate the 
distribution of the fruit to all parts of the end bin. The size of the 
fruit which passes into the end bin is, of course, regulated by the wheel- 
and-lever adjusters at the end of the machine. 



6 BULLETIN 864, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

The sloping bins are without partitions, so that the packers are free 
to station themselves at any place where fruit of the desired size is to 
be found. The range of size at any point furnishes the packer with 
the slight variation that customarily appears between the fruit in the 
top and in the bottom of the baskets in packing the 6-basket 





If the grower wishes to pack bushels or hampers, and does not wish 
to arrange each individual specimen in the container, he can alter 
the bins slightly and run the peaches into the shipping package in the 
usual jumble pack. 

Note.— A set of nine working drawings for this machine may be secured from the 
Bureau of Markets for 12. Letters of patent No. 1,338,276 have been issued on this 
machine to Mr. J. F. Barghausen, of the Department of Agriculture. Free use of 
the invention is dedicated to the people of the United States. 



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